Darkness Prevailed
by BeliBali
Summary: One Shot!  An entry in the Halloween Drabble Challenge on LiveJournal, this story deals with V in the afterlife, waiting.  What is he waiting for?  Read the story and find out.


**This story is for the Halloween Drabble Challenge on LiveJournal. It was quickly put together, but I hope it is enjoyable.**

** Disclaimer: Not mine. I am just using these characters. I gain nothing from it except hopefully a review or two.  
**

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**Halloween Drabble Challenge**

**Darkness prevailed.**

Darkness prevailed. Surrounding him; cocooning him in its presence. V sat. His head bowed, elbows on knees, with his hands clasped together. An on-looker may have thought him deep in prayer so still and pensive was he, but in prayer he was not. He was waiting; simply waiting, surrounded by a mystical plain of nothingness.

V wasn't entirely certain how long he had been waiting. Time had lost all meaning. He wasn't hungry. He wasn't thirsty. He did not feel. All he knew to do, all he wanted to do was wait. Something told him he could not leave, not yet.

It was the sound of a child's quiet cry which broke him from his revelry. Looking up V scanned the mist, looking for the source of the sound. Seeing nothing, he achingly rose to his feet and began to search.

Time and distance were illusions, preventing him from knowing how long he had journeyed. Only the sound of the intensifying whimper indicated he was growing nearer. In the distance V thought he saw a shape. Tilting his head, he studied it, but determined it was a trick of the mind, a phantom memory exerting itself on the barren plain.

The tug on the leg of his trousers startled him, making him jump in dismay. Looking down, his heart thumping against his chest, he was both confused and delighted to see a child's hand clutching him. The whimpering was suddenly silent. His search had ended, the source of the crying discovered.

Crouching down for a closer look, V examined the child.

_Young. Very young. Maybe two or a little less. A girl. Definitely a girl. Her nightdress betrays her. _

Reaching out, he tenderly touched the little girl's face, turning it to him.

V tried not to start, managing to control his shock just in time not to frighten the cherub staring at him.

"What has happened to you my dear?" he asked.

The side of the child's head was shattered, her hair matted and covered in blood.

"It was a bomb," came a very matter of fact voice behind him.

V turned to discover two other children. One boy, one girl, both in tattered and torn night clothes. Both covered in blood with singed hair and torn bodies. They looked to be no more than six maybe seven in age.

_Twins_, clicked something in V's mind. _Twins and their little sister. _

"I am sorry," he said solemnly as the littlest of the group began to climb into his arms.

Without hesitation, V scooped up the child and cuddled it, offering it what comfort his could.

"May I ask how long you have been here?" he asked the other two when neither spoke and just stood, staring at him.

"Don't know," answered the boy with a shrug after a critical examination of the masked man. "I lost track."

V nodded. "It is easy to do here." The older of the girls stepped forward, laying her battered hand on his arm.

"Can we wait with you?"

"Wait?"

The little girl nodded. "Our brother told us to wait for him."

V's head tilted as he considered her. "Was he…um…in the blast as well?"

The two older children looked at each other, communicating silently, debating what to say.

"He is with Mummy, but he will be here soon," finally answered the little boy.

"He didn't want to leave Mummy alone," filled in the girl. "Can we stay here until he arrives? Sarah likes you. I like you too."

"Sarah?" asked V before realizing Sarah was the baby in his arms. "Yes, you may wait with me. I would be happy to have the company."

The children smiled and approached, wrapping themselves around his legs, hugging him.

"Since we may be here for some time, allow me to introduce myself. You can call me V."

The little boy shook his head. "No. You will be daddy. I will call you daddy." The girl nodded in agreement. "Yes, you are Papa."

V frowned, "Certainly you have a father. Would he not be hurt to hear you calling another by his names?"

The boy looked up, considering the words. "No," he thought slowly. "No, we were never really his. We have always been Mummy's. We have never felt we belonged to him, but we feel we belong to you."

"Oh" V's head titled. "May I ask your names."

"I'm Judith," smiled the girl. "He's Jacob."

"I see, and this is Sarah." V hugged the baby closer.

"Yep," nodded the children together, "and we are waiting for Evan."

V nodded. "Evan."

A silence consumed them, each now being uncertain what to do.

"Shall we?" asked V, taking Judith's hand. Jacob shrugged.

"Where will we go? We have to wait."

"Mummy."

It was the baby in his arms who had spoken. She was reaching for a figure moving across the mystical plain.

"Ah," smiled V. "It seems your wait is over."

The children turned and ran to the woman who scooped them up, hugging and kissing them. Behind her stood a young man of about twelve, or a little older. He waiting patiently for the children to finish their embrace and release their mother before he too hugged and kissed them.

"Thank you," he told each. "I did not want to leave mother alone."

The children smiled and beamed up at the woman. "Papa has Sarah," announced Judith as she took her mother's hand and pulled her towards V. As she did, she transformed into the child she was before she met with the deadly explosion. V gasped as he looked into their little girl's large brown eyes and beautiful face. Turning his attention to the one in his arms and then her brother, he discovered all the children where whole again.

"Evey," escaped his lips, as his head titled and he looked at the children,

"Mummy," smiled the baby in his arms as she reached for the woman.

V was shocked.

"Evey?" he asked, lifting his hand to touch the woman's face as the children presented her to him.

"V?" Tears sprang to her eyes as she grasped his hand, kissing it. "Oh V. You? With the children? How?" Stepping forward she embraced him while holding her youngest daughter between them.

"I do not know," he answered honestly, overcome with seeing her. "I did not know they were yours."

Tears were in her eyes as she looked at him. "Yes. I did as you asked. I tried to go on with my life, but there was always you. I so wanted you to be there with me and with them. Sometimes I would imagine all of them were yours."

"Now all of us are," smiled Jacob. He knew his mother's tears were not from sadness, but from joy. At long last, she had the look in her eyes he had only caught glimpses of. At last, his mother was whole again.

Reaching out, Evey pulled her children to her, hugging them and V simultaneously. "Yes, all of us can be yours." A note of seriousness changed her face as she looked into the mask. "If you want us? Do you V? Do you want us? I do not think I can bare it if you say no."

Pulling the family closer to him, V touched the lips of the mask to Evey's forehead. "I can think of eternity in no other way, than to spend it with you."

Laughing Evey turned and reached for the boy who was standing at a distance from them. "Evan, darling, come meet your father."

The boy stepped forward shyly. He had the general appearance of the other's, but there were also features which caused him to stand out amongst them. _His eyes are different_, thought V. _And his hair is a different color. The shape of his chin and jaw are unlike his brother's._ V let his eyes drift across the other children, examining them closely. _Three have one father, this one has another. Still, they are Evey's. They are a part of her. I shall love them as my own, as I love her._

Evey watched V as the boy approached. "He's yours V."

"I will love him as my own Eve."

"No," she shook her head, "he is yours. That last night. The night we danced and then made love before you left me. He is yours, my darling. Our love created him."

Slowly V handed the baby in his arms to Evey and took a tentative step towards his son. "Mine?"

The boy looked at him in uncertainty.

"Mine?" said V again as a smile crept into his voice. "Oh Eve." Reaching out, he pulled the lad to him, hugging him tightly. "My son."

A hand fell on his back and V knew it was Evey's. Without hesitation he reached for her, maintaining his hold on his son. As she wrapped her arm around him, V looked at her. "The others. They resemble Inspector Stone."

Evey nodded, "It took me a long time to allow Dominic near, but I finally gave in. I finally decided Evan and I needed to live."

Behind his mask, V frowned, "And now….the bomb."

"No," Evey shook her head. "No, it has brought me back to you. Back to them." She touched her daughters' faces and then her sons'. "I have all my loves with me again."

There was relief and joy in her face as handed her youngest daughter to her eldest son. "I am so very happy you waited for me. I feared for the children, but somehow I knew they were with you."

"I would not leave without you Evey."

"I know."

Reaching out, she took V's hand in one of hers and then reached for her daughter's with her other. Judith clasped her mother's hand to hers and then reached for her twin with her other. V reached for his son who still held the baby. Together, in a row, hands clasped, they began walking through the mist as a family. At last the wait was over. At last, it was time for V to leave.


End file.
